LONDON, 15 MARCH 2016 – Ed Vaizey, the UK Minister of State for Culture and the Digital Economy has commended the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation for its new strategic goals in key areas such as the promotion of broadband and cybersecurity in the Commonwealth.

Minister Vaizey discussed these key areas of the CTO’s work during a visit to the CTO Secretariat on 11 March 2016 where he met with Secretary-General Shola Taylor.

Shola Taylor thanked Ed Vaizey for the UK government’s support for the CTO’s work on cybersecurity, as well as for the regular contributions by Ofcom and BT to CTO’s programmes aimed at board members and senior regulatory officials from Commonwealth countries and beyond.

“Through this support the CTO has been able to help member countries develop and implement national cybersecurity strategies. This is very important to us because we plan to continue our cybersecurity efforts which form a crucial aspect of our strategic plan for 2016 – 2020,” said Mr Taylor.

Minister Ed Vaizey and Shola Taylor at CTO headquarters

Mr Vaizey, the UK government Minister responsible for the Broadband Delivery UK programme which aims to extend the coverage of fixed “superfast broadband” services to 95% of homes by 2017, was very pleased to learn that broadband is among the CTO’s five priorities.

He was particularly interested in the multi-stakeholder partnership between the CTO, the Commonwealth Secretariat and the International Telecommunication Union which supports the development of national broadband policies and strategies across the Commonwealth.

For more information, contact Melanie Morides at m.morides@cto.int or call us on +44 20 8600 3800.

About the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation

The Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) is the oldest and largest Commonwealth intergovernmental organisation in the field of information and communication technologies. Although our history can be traced back to 1901 with the establishment of the Pacific Cable Board, the organisation has only existed in its present form as an intergovernmental treaty organisation since 1967. With a diverse membership spanning developed and least developed countries, small island developing states, and more recently also the private sector and civil society, the CTO aims to become a trusted partner for sustainable development for all through ICTs. More information about us here